Who was Annie Oakley?

[Ru4real]

Podcast #219 Timesuck with Dan Cummins on Spotify is a pretty good story.

Warning - Dan is entertaining and a little over the top at times.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1rqHBvgvOdSdCjEiubJWFv?si=S4ADtAGEQ9OHCsooUJkO1Q

I didn’t know Annie taught 15,000 women how to shoot. I think it’s fitting that we end every trap night with an Annie Oakley competition.

What do you know about Annie Oakley?

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Annie Oakley put on a shooting exhibition for the future Kaisar Wilhelm of Germany as part of Bullfalo Bill's touring Wild West Show.

"While the Wild West show was performing in Europe in 1890 and 1891, Crown Prince Wilhelm visited several times and watched Annie shoot the ashes off of cigarettes which Frank held in his mouth. Intrigued, Wilhelm asked Annie to shoot his cigarette. Annie put the cigarette in Wilhelm's hand and not his mouth. Some uncharitable people later ventured that if Annie would have shot Wilhelm and not his cigarette, she could have prevented World War I."
https://web.archive.org/web/20021015053658/http://www.ormiston.com/annieoakley/tales.html

There are several versions of that story.

 

[chicharrones]

What do you know about Annie Oakley?

She's known to have used the predecessor to the Marlin 39, which is the loading gate equipped Marlin 1891.

 

[jmorris]

Wasn’t she an orphan that started a sunglass business?

 

[Poper]

Annie Oakley was a blonde Pug owned by my best friend Russell and was his constant companion as he was completely disabled due to the ravages of Multiple Sclerosis. She was born in 1991, mother's name Taz, fathers' name Roger.
Russell loved everything firearms related and taught me most of what I know about reloading and much of what I know about firearms maintenance. A virtual walking encyclopedia of firearms and ammunition related knowledge, as a young man Russell was an avid outdoorsman, hunter and shooter. Always quick witted, when Annie got fat, he drew football laces on her back with a black Sharpie which angered his spouse greatly. Russell passed away 7/3/2006 from a heart condition with complications due to his 25 year struggle with MS. His wife, daughter, brother, my wife and I were all present at his bedside with Annie.
Annie was obviously despondent and nearly stopped eating all together and passed about three months following Russell's death.

 

[Ru4real]

The podcast does a pretty good job of telling what life was like being a farmer in 1860.

One hundred and sixty years later and most young women have no clue what a pioneer Annie Oakley was for them.

 

[.308 Norma]

One hundred and sixty years later and most young women have no clue what a pioneer Annie Oakley was for them.

I'm 72, and my wife is not that far behind. So my wife could hardly be considered a "young" woman anymore. But both she and our 2 grown daughters have known what a "pioneer" Annie Oakley was for women for a long time. This is the poster my wife has had hanging by our front door since I can't remember when.

 

[Jim Watson]

The last time she was discussed I found a good quotation:
"I ain't afraid to love a man. I ain't afraid to shoot him, either."
We can hope she was not referring to the same guy.

 

[Reinz]

Annie died of lead poisoning.

No, she didn’t get shot.

 

[Ru4real]

Annie died of lead poisoning.

No, she didn’t get shot.

I learned today she died at 66 due to a disease caused by vitamin B12 deficiency. A simple daily vitamin today would have made her better.

And when she died, her husband quit eating and was dead 18 days later.

 

[Jim Watson]

Maybe so, but anemia is a symptom of lead poisoning, and they did not isolate B12 until 1926.
My Grandmother was in the clinical study of B12.

 

[.308 Norma]

I learned today she died at 66 due to a disease caused by vitamin B12 deficiency. A simple daily vitamin today would have made her better.

Maybe so, but anemia is a symptom of lead poisoning, and they did not isolate B12 until 1926.

Either way, I Googled it, and the average life expectancy for women in 1926 (when Annie Oakley died) was only 58 years. So whether she got lead poisoning from handling ammunition, or died because One-A-Day hadn't been invented yet, Annie Oakley outlived most women back then.

 

[Jim Watson]

Yes, and even though Frank Butler pined away after Annie died, he still made it to 79 which was darned good for the era.

 

[JERRY]

I just had to Wikipedia her, interesting story.

 

[tark]

I know that her gold plated Marlin lever action sold for over $500,000 a couple of years back.

 

[Ru4real]

Pretty sad how Frank shot his dog on several different occasions refusing to believe that he didn’t have the skill anymore to continue with his dog / apple / trick shot.

 

[JN01]

Several years ago, I went to the Garst Museum in Greenville, OH. They have a large section dedicated to Annie with many of her guns and other memorabilia. Well worth the visit.